Twins
by Citruline
Summary: A random encounter changes things for Natsu. AU. Drabbles
1. Shock

Notes: Alternate Universe. Drabbles.

* * *

 **Twins**

Natsu was bored out of his mind.

They'd finished a mission in a town near Magnolia and then Lucy had had the brilliant idea of wanting to find a certain kind of dress.

She'd been going inside and out of stores in the side of the market dedicated to clothes and fabric, dragging Natsu around, without having any luck.

The fire mage grumbled a little under his breath.

After all, why had he drawn the short straw?

Erza and Wendy had left, taking Happy and Carla with them.

They had to help prepare the guild for the huge birthday party they were going to throw for Lucy.

It wasn't a secret or anything but also entailed a lot of work.

Hence Lucy's quest for a certain dress she'd envisioned.

And Natsu… Natsu had to stay, almost as if guarding, at the door of yet another store. Waiting for Lucy.

His only distraction was watching the people.

There were now more people walking about. Some leisurely, some in a hurry, some with more bags and boxes than their arms could carry.

Natsu was looking to his side, pretty distracted, when he noticed something. Something familiar. A familiar hair, build – he couldn't exactly see the face from his current position.

'Hey! What the hell is he doing here?' he wondered, frowning. 'I though he was busy with something and that was why he didn't come with us on the mission!'

Natsu started walking in his friend's direction, already opening his mouth to shout when the other disappeared.

"What the-?" Natsu muttered, looking around. He noticed a side street and headed there.

He managed to see Gray's back, just as he went around a corner.

"Gray! Hey, Gray!" Natsu called in a loud voice as he started to run to catch up. "I thought you couldn't come…" he made the corner only to come across an empty dead-end. "... here…"

Natsu was about to turn around and head back when there was a loud _cracking_ noise – that made Natsu wince – before Natsu's head was in a headlock.

"What did you say about Gray?" Was asked directly against the fire mage's ear, almost as if in a breathy caress.


	2. Reunited

There was a moment where it was as if time stood still and then Natsu caught a momentary break, quickly getting out of the headlock and rounding up to stare at the familiar-yet-unfamiliar face.

"You're not Gray…" Natsu said in a sharp tone. He noticed the slight shift in the other's expression at the mention of the name. "Who are you?"

A familiar expression of snarkiness appeared before Natsu.

"Why… I'm his brother."

Natsu's eyes widened.

"Bu-but Gray never said anything about a brother…" Natsu muttered confusedly.

"Oh, I take it he didn't say anything about me, huh?" The other snorted. "Wouldn't surprise me but," he pointed at his own face, "we've the same face… we're twins."

"I see." Natsu crossed his arms. "And what do you want with Gray?" The fire mage asked, suspicious.

"I want to see my brother." The other repeated, now in an earnest tone. "We got separated when Deliora destroyed our village and killed our parents."

"Why weren't you with him?" Natsu's seemingly innocuous question provoked a slight twitch in the other's eye.

"I was in a different part of the village. When I got back _home_ ," his voice became strangled, face scrunching up into a painful grimace. "When I got back home it was no more. But I d-did notice portions of my p-p-parents," he stuttered, tilting his head forward so that his expression got masked. "I thought… I thought Gray was with them."

"How have you known Gray was alive, then?" Natsu questioned.

"By chance. I think that we crossed paths a while ago. But I only realized it was him when it was too late."

"Mmmm. Okay…" Natsu uncrossed his arms. "I'll take you to Gray. But first we need to make a quick stop." He turned on his heel and headed back to the main street.

* * *

Natsu caught sight of Lucy, quickly heading to where the celestial mage was looking to the entrance of yet another store – this one with precious and semi-precious jewels – with a bunch of bags on the floor circling her.

Her foot was tapping on the floor impatiently.

"Lucy." Natsu began, attracting the other's attention to himself.

"Ah, Natsu. Finally you arrive and…" she paused, tilting her head to the side. "Hey. What's Gray doing here? I thought he was…"

Natsu raised his hands, making her stop her train of thought.

"This isn't Gray, Lucy. It's his _twin_ brother, huh…" He turned towards the other. "Oi, what's your name again?"

"I didn't tell you in the first place." Was the prim answer. "But my name's Shiro. Shiro Fullbuster, nice meeting you." He extended his hand towards Lucy and kissed her hand.

The celestial mage let out a choked giggle.

"Now that was different." She blushed a little. "That settles it, then. Let's go back to the guild."

Natsu shrugged.

"Did you find your dress, at least?" he asked.

Lucy only grinned at him.

* * *

The doors of the guild opened and Lucy strode inside, confidently. Natsu was coming after her and with Shiro walking behind. Still, the fire mage could understand her confidence and happiness, she was looking great in the dress.

There was an expectant silence, the further they got into the guild.

Then, there was a bright flash and a wave of noise that came from the guild members coming forward and yelling "happy birthday!" at Lucy.

Everything got kind of confusing for a little while, with people congratulating and complimenting her, and then, among the commotion, Lucy turned to Natsu and many eyes followed her.

That was when the guild members noticed _Gray_. Questions started flying, the noise rose.

And then Gray entered the main hall from the opposite end from where Lucy, Natsu and his look-alike were. Before long, a heavy silence fell on the guild, permeating the whole space.

Gray stood confused, looking for the reason for the unusual silence.

Until the moment when his eyes fell on that person.

"You?" was the surprised question.

* * *

Unbetaed. Written late at night. My apologies.


	3. Reaction

Quite a number of heads turned sharply, a double-take between the unexpected interaction between the two.

A malicious expression flickered on Shiro's face before setting into a poised expression of wonder.

"Long time no see, huh?" Shiro said tentatively.

Gray's expression instantly closed off, hardening, as his lips turned downwards. Displeased.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?" Gray said in a low, threatening, voice.

The question seemed to amuse the other because a large smile spread into his lips, nearly an all-out grin.

"Well, see, I was looking for you…" He said candidly. "And somehow ended up crossing paths with your friends here and-"

His tirade was interrupted by Gray who swiftly punched him in the face, throwing him into some of the guildmates who were watching the scene, behind Shiro.

A stunned silence followed.

Gray glared at Shiro, who in turn smirked at him, a calculating look in his eyes – even if they were being covered by his hair.

"Feeling vivacious, are we?" Shiro muttered, just loud enough that only a few people hear him – one of them being Gray.

"You asshole!" The ice mage snarled as he all but threw himself at his brother, intent in landing a few more punches on the other.

But then, Gray was caught, held back from hitting his brother.

Chaos spread out, with some people holding Gray down while a few others were seemingly helping and comforting the twin brother while the rest of the guild just assisted to the messy spectacle.

"Enough!" A booming voice instantly killed the noise that had risen, everyone turning towards the diminutive figure of the Master. The Master was frowning deeply but, he let out a sigh, shook his head at himself and started speaking. "I don't know if you forgot but we're celebrating the birthday of one of our dear guildmembers. I won't let an unnecessary row to disrupt the festivities." His words had the intended effect as he saw the subtle flinching of the intended people. "Now, let's go back to our celebration!"

After those words, the heavy atmosphere that had been permeating the whole guild lifted, and music, food and laughter filled the guild once again, the overall merriment back to high levels.

Makarov walked to where the epicentre of the situation had been, seeing as Gray, his twin, Natsu and a few others still were.

"And we…" he looked at the twins sharply, "I think we need to have a serious conversation."

And with that, Makarov turned on his heel and headed to his office.

Gray and Shiro followed, silently.


	4. Argument

**Note:** Taking some liberties with canon because that's how fanfic works~

* * *

Natsu was curious.

Actually, he was extremely curious about this unknown sibling of Gray. More, it didn't look like the brothers were in good terms.

What might've happened?

He _wanted_ to know.

So, he followed, when the Master took them to his office. Trying to be inconspicuous. And, wonder of wonders, he actually did it.

When the door closed, Natsu tiptoed to it and leaned against the thick wood. He knew that he was being a bit over the top since everybody knew that the Master had set muffling spells to be able to have some rest. Not that it was often warranted but, still…

Hopefully he would catch something interesting anyway…

* * *

Inside, the air was thick with tension.

Gray and Shiro stood glaring at each other, while Makarov sat behind his desk and let out a heavy sigh.

"The thick-headedness of youth…" He grumbled under a breath.

Seeing as the standstill would be maintained – unless he did something – Makarov decided to get things going.

"So, the two of you haven't seen each other in how long…?"

There were simultaneous sounds of intakes of breath before Gray's voice broke the small, tense, silence.

"On the day Deliora attacked." Gray raised his arm to point at Shiro. "You left not long before the attack. Mum and Dad wanted to go after you. Because you were grounded."

"I told you already! It wasn't my fault that Ryu and Momo did that-!" Shiro cut in sharply.

"I told them I was going after you." Gray continued, through gritted teeth.

"Tough luck, I wasn't where you expected me to. But," Shiro grinned maliciously, a strange twinkle in his eye, "you know that because of that Mum and Dad were killed. _You_ were the reason as to why they died!"

"No, you fucking asshole. It wasn't…"

"Yes, it was. And then, when I got home – to what used to be our home – there were only debris and blood. And Mum and Dad…" Shiro raised his hand, placing it in front of his eyes as if to shield him from an image that had just materialized before his eyes. Then he paused and glared at Gray again. "I thought you were there too." He added accusingly.

"How could I know?" Gray bellowed. "You weren't at your hanging out place. And then there was the panic, everybody running and I somehow had the chance of being found by my Master. She helped me – and we looked everywhere for you. Where the hell were you through it all, huh?"

"The forest." Shiro murmured.

"What?" Gray asked, leaning slightly forward.

"I said I was in the forest!" Shiro yelled.

"But you shouldn't go there! Dad said that-" Gray started.

"I know very well that I shouldn't go there but what do you want? It was there that the _fun_ was."

"You asshole-!" Gray growled.

"No, you're the asshole. Thinking you were _so good_ ," he said the last word in a sarcastic tone, "just because Maki liked you…"

"She did not!" Gray said in outrage. "She just didn't like to be pranked all the time."

"I didn't do anything to her!"

"Oh, yes you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Boys…" Makarov interjected suddenly. "Let's calm down, shall we?" He had his right brow twitching slightly. Then he turned to Shiro. "And what happened, after?"

"Ah, yes, well, some people took me in and we travelled. We did travel a lot."

"And how did you find out about your brother?"

Shiro looked at Gray. Mouth turning slightly downwards.

"It was by chance. People I'd never met came and thanked me, spoke of this guild, here." He made a vague gesture with his hand. "And one day we were on the same town. I saw him in the distance. But couldn't catch him." Shiro finished with a shrug.

"When was that?" Gray asked, suspicious.

"Dunno. A while ago." Shiro crossed his arms. "And then I had that friend of yours doing all that racket at the market."

"I guess that that flame breath did something well, for a change."

A sudden noise came from outside, turning the heads of the room's occupant towards the door.

Gray threw the door open only to be standing above a dragonslayer that lay sprawled out on the floor.

"Natsu…" He said, eyebrow arching.

"Haha…" Natsu sat up and grinned sheepishly. "Ooops, I was caught."


	5. Conversation

Despite the unexpected reception – and following consequence of the event – Lucy was having a blast.

Yes, she was very, very, _very_ curious as to what might be happening in the Master's office but it _was_ her party and she was pretty happy with everything her guildmates had done for the celebration.

So, Lucy chatted with people, placed her gifts in an ever-growing pile – and there were quite a few that she _knew_ were books and she couldn't wait to read them! – got dragged to the dancefloor and, in-between everything, still had the time for some well-deserved snacks.

She was just leaving the dancefloor, fanning herself because the temperature had been spiking, when she pumped into Erza. She and the red-haired mage exchanged a look, there was a pause between them, just for a beat, before they started giggling.

The two giggling mages headed to the tables on the corner, still laden with food and drink, dodging the odd individual mage or small clusters of people that had stopped to eat and talk among themselves.

The girls grabbed some food and drink and headed towards a quieter corner, where there were some tables with some mages sitting, watching the festivities.

"You guys really outdid yourselves." Lucy said as soon as they were sitting. She looked around, at the decorations, at her happy friends. A smile of contentment fluttered on her lips.

"You know how we do things here." Erza replied, giving Lucy a wink.

"Oh, I do know." Lucy let out a laugh. "But this party is bigger than, well, the last one we had."

"The bigger the party, the better." Erza said while dabbing primly at her lips. "Oh, Cana's overdoing it…"

"She's going to drink all of those?" Lucy said in a half-choked voice, as she tapped on her sternum.

"You know how they say, the more, the merrier."

At that moment there was a wave of noise that surrounded them, as if it had started at the other side of the room and broken around them.

And that was when Lucy noticed the new arrivals.

"Hey, look!" She elbowed Erza on the side. "They're back!"

"And Natsu's with them. Don't tell me that he eavesdropped them." The red headed mage frowned lightly.

"I wouldn't be surprised." The blonde mage shrugged. "He was… curious. We all are curious but Natsu seems to have grown sort of attached?"

"Why do you say that?" Erza asked, surprised.

"I don't know." The celestial mage shrugged. "It was just a feeling I got, I think…"

"Do you think it's going to influence the _thing_?" Erza said tensely, bringing her cup to her lips and sipping slowly.

"Oh, most definitely. It'll probably destroy the thing." Lucy started to say, looking sharply to her side when she heard the noise.

It was Erza putting down her cup – with such a force that it cracked in her hand.

"Damn it." Erza growled. "After all the work…"

"Yeah. It sucks." Lucy agreed gravely. "Unless…"

"Unless…?"

"Unless we go ahead with it, get some back-up and make things right again."

"Pffft." Erza scoffed. "With the amount of stubbornness, we'll have our hands full."

"We can take it!" Lucy promised, raising her glass.

"Okay. We'll try to." Erza nodded and clinked her cup with Lucy's.


End file.
